Employers focus on retention as ICT skills shortage, election bite

The impact of a severe shortage of ICT skills is only being moderated by weakening demand from the government sector as the uncertainty around this year’s federal election bites the labour market, the latest Clarius Skills index has found.

Compiled quarterly by employment specialist Clarius, the latest index compares industry demand for a range of skills, with the supply in the market for those skills. A rating of 100 indicates that supply and demand are matched, while values above 100 suggest a shortage of particular skills and values below 100, an oversupply.

The latest figures suggested that demand for ICT managers has softened since December 2007, when the survey put that category at 100.7; the latest figure was 98.2, up slightly from a five-year low of 97.6 in September 2012.

The category called ICT Professionals, however, showed a less positive story. While the market balance had improved markedly from December 2007 – when the ranking of 110.4 put the category into an extreme shortage – the latest figures had it at 102.2, which Clarius classifies as a ‘very high’ shortage.

Taken together, the ICT-related categories represented a net shortage of 4600 staff – making ICT the industry sector in the most need of additional staff. This, according to Clarius Group CEO Kym Quick, will push employers to focus more intensely on retention strategies to avoid becoming casualties of the higher demand.

“Positive economic signals are reversing [past] poor business sentiment, and this should lead to increased hiring activity,” Quick said in a statement. “This encourages candidates, who have stayed put in recent years, to look for new opportunity – hence the churn. As a result, businesses are concerned they will lose key talent and IP to competitors.”

“It’s even tougher for companies operating in sectors where there are professional skills shortages because competition for the best talent will be fierce.”

Another technology-related jobs category, ICT and Telecommunications Technicians, was in a better situation, with a rating of 98.1 suggesting there were enough skills in the market. But all areas of the jobs market are likely to see changes in the leadup to the election: while many will welcome the certainty provided by the announcement of the election, the Clarius report warned that the announcement of the election “is already beginning to affect decision making on certain projects, particularly in government sectors.”

“Canberra is probably the busiest city at the moment and our staff are advising candidates to capitalise on opportunities,” the report says. “Train up, expand their skills, and gain as much experience as possible. We’re seeing a lot of clients trying to get more out of their people, and doing ‘more with less’ is a recurring theme. The more expansive a person’s skill base is, the more useful they will be to an employer.”

Persistently high numbers for the ICT Professionals category reinforce this point, with expansion in demand for mid-tier ICT staff. The relatively strong supply of ICT Managers, by contrast, suggests the market is focusing on adding ground-level staff rather than additional executives to manage them.

This trend will be exacerbated by the shift from the market being led by growth in mining-related sectors, to growth in non-mining sectors. It will also be compounded by the knock-on effects of a university sector that is continuing to struggle when it comes to convincing students to pursue training and careers in ICT-related areas.

With costs potentially set to rise, however, many employers would be shifting to a ‘pay as you go’ staffing model to keep their costs under control. “The renewed sense of fiscal responsibility, even in businesses doing well, is dictating staffing models and is here to stay,” Quick said. “We won’t see the traditional ‘overloading’ on labour costs when the economy improves.” – David Braue